Obviously, the two major juggernauts in the mobile space are Apple’s iOS and iPhone and Google’s Android operating system.
Despite the fact that these phones and platforms are the fodder for constant back and forth about which is better, each organization is taking a singificantly different approach in how they market their product.
Case in point: Apple controls the device on which their software runs, Google is seeking to get their platform on as many devices as possible.
Clear enough, but I recently stumbled across an excellent article that attempts to breakdown exactly why Google is approaching Android and the market in the way that they are.
Everything Google does must be understood within this context. Google builds services like Google Maps, Gmail and Docs and gives them away for free not because they have a philosophical belief that web applications should be free, but rather because giving them away for free gives them a competitive advantage. Free services, running Google ads, are obviously advantageous because free means more people will use them than if they charged and thus they can realize greater advertising revenues
An excellent read for anyone that pays attention to this space.
John Saddington says
love this.